photography and the open road

26 April 2009

Pepsi Throwback – Actual Information

NOTE: Pepsi Throwback was set to reappear on December 28, 2009. This post was written back in April, the first time it came out, and thus is not current. As of Dec. 29, the Throwback website is showing a blank page, and I have managed to find very little of it so far. New information going into my new post as I find it.

When Pepsi Throwback first appeared in stores, I posted a quick blog entry professing my love for it. Then, much to my surprise, I began getting Google traffic from people looking for actual information about the stuff – where you can buy it, that sort of thing. So, here's what I know.

The first thing people ask me is whether you can tell the difference. Yes! It's not subtle, either; it's night and day. Pepsi Throwback is smoother, less acidic, and less sweet than regular Pepsi, and it's good. Really, really good.

But, on to the hard information. At this point, PepsiCo's evil plan is to sell Throwback for eight weeks, starting April 20th, and then yank it away from us and laugh with glee at our tears and our crushed souls. This doesn't leave a lot of time to mount a massive, unprecedented campaign to convince them to change their minds and keep it.

PepsiCo's website is terrible, a flash-dominated monstrosity seemingly designed to prevent consumers from getting any information, but a few things can be found.

Nutritional information is available by going here and choosing “Pepsi Throwback” from the Products pop-up on the left. Short version: same number of calories as regular Pepsi (150 for a 12oz can).

They also have a dedicated Throwback website, which I only discovered by Googling. There isn't a whole lot there, really.

Apparently there is a #throwback hashtag thingy going on over at Twitter. I still haven't figured out why Twitter isn't stupid, but if you have, there's that.

There is a store locator on the Pepsi site (warning, Flash monstrosity) that claims to help you find where to buy their stuff, but it informs me that no one is selling Throwback within a 50-mile radius of me, which is quite incorrect, so that's not useful at all. Don't believe this store locator. It is simply wrong.

As for where you can buy it, this doesn't appear to be a major promotion for Pepsi. I haven't seen any store displays, nor even any prominent shelf placement. My usual grocery store just had some 12-packs shoved in with all the other Pepsi products. There weren't many, so I bought them all. You'll have to look for it; it won't be right in your face in the soft drink section.

I'm hoping we can convince PepsiCo that this shouldn't be merely a “nod to the fun things of the past,” as their director of marketing for North America, Anamaria Irazabal, described it, but that it is in fact the best thing ever. Pepsi has a contact form you can use to write to them (WARNING, this link will attempt to resize your browser window with Javascript). You should use it.

How you may or may not feel about high-fructose corn syrup is largely irrelevant. Pepsi can't sell this stuff by using the “HFCS Is Bad” angle; every other product they sell uses HFCS, and given the cost difference, that's not going to change anytime soon. I think they should sell this just based on the fact that it tastes better. If it's more expensive to make, fine: charge more for it, thus justifying the use of HFCS elsewhere and positioning Throwback as a premium product.

If you have any other information, let me know. As a last resort, if Pepsi drops this product as planned, you can still order Dublin Dr Pepper, made with real sugar, online from Texas.